Indirect-heating system.



No. 784,110. PATENTED MAR. 7, 1905' E. R. KNAPP.

INDIRECT HEATING SYSTEM.

APPLIOATION FILED APR-10. 1903.

28HEETS-SHEET 1 a TZEJT 1 /4 No. 784,110. PATENTED MAR. '7, 1905. E. R. KNAPP.

INDIRECT HEATING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED APR-.10. 1903.

V 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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EUGENE R. KNAPP, OF BROOKLINE, MASSAOITUSEITTITS, ASSlG-NOR TO HENRY [)E FORD, OF BROOKL'INE, MASSAOI'IUSETITS.

lNDlREOT- -HEATING SYSETIEIW,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 784,116, dated March 7, 1905.

Application filed April 10,1903. tierial No. 151,946.

To a, wi /17m 2115 777104] concern/.-

Be it known that I, EUG nun R. KNA'PP, acitizen of the United Statesresiding at Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massa: chusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in lndirectdieating Systems, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a vertical section showing a series o l compartments which represent rooms in a building provided with my improved indirectheating system. Fig. 2 is a horizontal plan view, partly in section, at line 2 2 of Fig. 1, this view showing the steam or h0t-water feed pipe more clearly than it is indicated in Fig. 1 and also indicating the preferred arrangement of the outside-air conduits, the outer ends of which extend without the building in ton r different directions for example, north, east, south, and west-and intersecting at their communication with the air-box supplyconduit, tans being shown in the air-conduits. Fig. 3 is a detailed view, partly in section, at line 3 3 of Fig. 2, and shows one form of mechanical contrivanee whereby the valve of an uptake and the valve of its returnpipe may be operated from a distance. Fig. 1- is a detail view, partly in section, showing one form of a valve-adjusting device; and Fig. 5 is a detail view, partly in section, showing one mechanical mode of opening and closing an air-gate from a distance. Fig. 6 is a detail View of the flanged coupling construction, whereby the uptakes and their returns are dctachably connected.

The main objects of my invention are, first, to supply continuously to rooms fresh outside air which is warmed from near its intake into the building until it is discharged into the rooms, utilizing in so doing the heat of retu rning steam or hot water to preheat the air admitted to an air-box containing the directheating pipe; second, to eliminate, at least in the second story and stories thereabove, the use of radiators and numerous valve parts commonly used therewith; third, to distribute warmed air to the various rooms with a minimum heating of the walls; fourth, to utilize the chimney construction by building contiguously thereto the upwardly-extending air-lines thus making my system as economical of room as possible; fifth, to provide means whereby the occupant of an upper story may regulate the heat admitted to a room by means accessible within the room, and, sixth, to provide means whereby in case of leaks in the water or steam pipes, which extend upwardly within the upwardly-extending air-Hues, the pipes may be readily removed without taking up floors or breaking into side walls or ceilings.

in the drawings, which illustrate one ol various cmbodilnentsol my invention, the form shown being on the whole the best now known to me, A represents thebasement of the building; A, the lmsement-lioor; A, the ground or first floor; A, the second floor; A, the third floor.

l3 indicates the chimney construction, and Z) upwardly-extending air-l'lues, which are prelierably built in at the chimney sides.

In the present form ol my invention 1 have shown in the groundlloor rooms A ordinary registers e and valvc-hainlles tor the radiators A, which are in the air-box 1) and beneath the lirst floor A. In installations of the systern I prefer for the lirst-lioor rooms this old and wellknown arrangement of radiators, valves, and registers, although the features ol my invention are as applicable to the lirststory rooms, if desired, as they are to the second and thereabove stories.

Either steamer hotwatcr from anysnitable source located either within or without the building maybe used; but 1 will describe it with reference to the use ol steam.

1 is the steam-feral pipe to the system and may be supposed to come from a boiler outside the building. Pipe 1 communicates at 2. with a horizontal steam-distrilniting pipe 3-) within airbox 1), which is secured to the basement-oiling in any suitable manner. The extremities of pipe 3 are provided with downwardly-extending return-bemls st, which columunicate with the return steam-pipe 5 within air-box 1) below pipe 3. ltadiators A are shown on pipe 3, there being one valve a at each end of a radiator A. lteturn steam-pipe attach a rod 38, which extends upwardly to an retutn-steam-pipe section 6, which communiadjusting-post 39, provided with an adjustcates with a horizontal return steam-pipe 7 I ing-nut 40, which works against the bearing within an outside-air conduit F. 5 2O precisely as in the case of the adjusting In the present construction two auxiliary l mechanism for the valves 16. The adjustingreturn steam-pipes 8 are shown, the shorter /nuts are, like the adjusting-nuts 21. acarms communicating at 9 with pipe 5 and the cessible to the occupant of the story into which longer arms extending parallel with pipes 3 the particular air-flue extends. By proper and5andbeingbelow pipe3. Each upwardlymanipulation of the adjusting-nuts 40 air is extending air-flue 7) contains within its walls 2 cut off or admitted to the air-flues. at a distance from the walls an upwardly-exl The under sides of the air-box D are pro- 5 in the air-box communicates with a vertical 1 l l tending uptake 10, the lower end of which is vided with suitable doors (Z or other covers in communication with the steam-supply pipe for openings in the under side of the air-box, 3. Each uptake is carried upward within an I the openings being directly below the airair-flue 6 into the desired room on the second flues. If a leak occurs in an uptake or in its story or some story thereabove, and each upreturn-pipe or in the air-pipe 15, which are take is in communication with a return steamalso made up of coupled sections, the door (Z pipe 11, also within the air-flue and at a disthereunder may be opened and the air-gate 3O tance fromthe walls thereof, the lower end removed. The flanged couplings 12 being of pipe 11 communicating with the longer loosened from the uptake and its return-pipe arm of the return-pipe 8. The upper ends of i and the uptake or its return being then discach uptake 10 and its return 11 are connectconnected from the pipes 3 and 5, the uptake ed byaflanged coupling 12, the flanges being or its return, or both, may be drawn down bolted together by removable bolts 13. The from within the air-flue into the basement. uptakes 10 and returns 11 are made of pipe- If the length of the uptake or its return-pipe sections which are conveniently six or eight be greater than the height of the basement, feet long and coupled together by removable i the couplings 141 may be uncoupled and the couplings 1 1. An air-pipe 15, frequently uptake and its return-pipe removed in seccalled an air-valve, connects each flanged tions, and so, also, as to the air-pipe 15. This coupling 12 with a return steam-pipe (in the provision for withdrawing the pipes from the present instance with 8) in order to permit a air-fines 8 downwardly is important, as it ohfree circulation of steam or water in the upviates the necessity of tearing up floors or takes or returns. breaking into side walls of the rooms in order to repair the pipes when a leak occurs.

A serious objection has been long commonly experienced in heating systems because of a practically direct contact of the steam or hotwater pipes with the walls of the building, the walls becoming so hot that considerable time has frequently been required for the rooms to cool off after the steam or hot water has been shut off. Expensive heat-insulating material, like asbestos. has been used to prevent this overheating of the walls, but without much success. In accordance with my plan the uptakes 10 and their return-pipes 11 are separated from the walls of the air-Hues, and as the air travels up through the air-fines in the space between the inner walls of the Hues and the outer walls of the uptakes and return- As best seen in Fig. 3, each uptake is pro vided at its foot with a regulating-valve 16, and each return-pipe 11 is provided with a similar valve 16. Any desired kind of shut-off or regulating valve may be used in lieu of the form of valve shown, wherein each valve 16 has its stem provided with a crank-arm 17. To the outer end of each crank-arm 17 a vertical rod 18 is attached and carried upwardly through the air-flue, being provided at its upper end in this particular instance with a flanged post 19, which passes through a bearing 20 in the upper end of the air-flue. An adjusting-nut 21 is mounted on said post 19 and bears against the upper surface of the bearing 20. Post 19 is provided with a lengthwise groove 22, which receives a suitable projection from the bearing 20,so that when nut 21 is turned to move the rod 18 in either direction to regulate the valve 16 the post 19 will not be rotated, This is merely one of a great number of obvious mechanical ways of moving a valve 16. The bottom of each air-flue bis provided with an air-gate 30, which may be of any desired construction, but which for the purposes of convenience is here shown in the form of an old and well-known register made up of a series of pivoted slats 31, which are connected to a slide 32, provided with the usual ear 33. On a pivot 34 I mount is minimized and heat is saved. The airlines may be made of any suitable material; but I prefer to make them of expanded-metal to be constructed as the building progresses; but ordinary chimney-fl ue linings may be used.

Each air-conduit F opens to the outside of the building, so as to provide fresh air to the air-box D through the air-conduits F and the air-box supply-conduit f, which connects the air-box and outside-air conduits E. Near the outer end of each conduit F, I mount a suitable fan (3?, preferably an electric fan, whereby air is continuously drawn through air-conan L-shaped lever 35, havinga lengthwise slot 36, which receives a pin 37 from the ear 33. To the other end of the L-shaped lever I pipes the heating of the walls of the building lathing, to be plastered within, and the flues real 10 duits F and forced through air-box supplyconduit f and into the air-box, whence it passes upwardly through the air-fines Z) and out into the rooms through the registers R. It will be observed that the air so drawn in from without in its travel through the conduits F and air-box supply-conduitf'is in contact with the return-pipe sections 6 and 7, so that the air taken in is continuously warmed from near its intake until it is delivered through the registers B, being given a higher tem iieraturethan is given to it by the heat from the return-pipes 6 and 7 when it passes over the live-steam pipe 3 and. the return-pipe 5 within the air-box D. In other words, I preheat the air for admission to the air-box and do the preheating by utilization of the heat of the return steam after it leaves the air-box. The utilization of the return steam after it leaves the air-box to preheat the incoming air is an important economic feature of my system. In some indirect-heating systems, where the air is heated in hot-air reservoirs in basements and, distributed by metal conduits to various parts of the building the air grows cooler and cooler until it is let out into the rooms. By my invention, on the contrary, the air from without is made hotter and hotter from the time it first contacts with the returnpipe until its delivery into the rooms.

Heretofore it has been the practice in indirect-heating systems to have the outside-airsupply conduit F open on the outside of the building at its two ends on opposite sides of the building; but I prefer, where possible, as in the case of detached dwelling-houses, to have four branches of the outside-air-supply conduit F, one branch opening nortl'ierly, another easterly, another southerly, and another westerly, so that from whichever direction the wind blows fresh air may be more readily supplied.

In the present instance the four conduits F intersect at the foot of the conduit f, which communicates with all the conduits. By the use of fans I avoid taking air from the windiest and coldest side of a building and may take the air from the warmest side. Even if a plurality of branches are installed it may not be necessary to use them all; but this will depend somewhat on the size and location of the building. If preferred, a single air-supply conduit F, with or without a fan, may be used. The air-conduits may supply any number of upwardly-extending lines in various parts of the building. The air-fines need not neces sarily be built at the chimney sides; but this location is generally economical of space. The steam-pipes 3'and 5 by suitable branches may be connected with various other air-boxes in other parts of the building, and a branch, as from pipes 3 and 5, is indicated. Iprefer to have the air-conduit F pass under the basement-floor, as sl1own,atter it enters the building for economizmg room.

The upwardly-extending airlines, witn interior means for heating the current of air passing upwardly therethrough are important, for where walls of rooms are, as now, heated by contact with even insulated pipes the rooms are kept uncomfortably hot and heat wasted, and frequently the walls are cracked and expensive wall papers injured in consequence of the excessive heat. The provision for the downward Withdrawal of the heatingpipes from the air-lines in case of leaks is also of great economical importance,- while the elimination of radiators and valves saves much expense of installing heating systems. Economy of installation, of repairs, and of heat units are advantages of my invention, as also are the facts that fresh air is constantly supplied by it and injury to wall papers or decorations and to ceilings avoided when leaks occur, for the water or drip from leaks must run down the uptakes or returns directly into the basement and not, as heretofore, run down the walls andwork out in side walls and ceilings. It will be noticed, also, that the upwardly-extending air-fines serve as ventilating-fines. The advantage of having valve and air-gate controllers accessible in the va rious rooms is obvious.

The air-gates or registers at the bottom of the air-fines are removable and are shown held in place by clips 50. The chimney construction is indicated by B, there being in this instance two, upwardly-extending air-flues on each side of the chimney. The chimney-walls make a good support for the air-fines, which can be readily built one against another, the innermost flues being along the upwardlyextending chimney sides, one set of air-lines going to differentrooms on the second floor and the other set to different rooms on the third floor. Thus I indicate four rooms as being heated (and ventilated) from the four air-fines shown; but it will be understood that by constructing other air-flues at sides of the air-lines shown four other rooms on the scc- 0nd and third floors can be heated from such a stack of eight air-fines,

The steam-return pipe extends through the air-supply conduit, whereby the air is preheated by the return steam and the steam in the return-pipe is condensed, thereby increasing the circulation of steam through the system. This isv new with me and results in marked economy of heat units. The pipes 8, 4t, 6, and '7 constitute one form of steam-rcturn main. The air-box l), conduit f, and outside-air conduits F constitute one form of air-supply chamber for the upwardly-extending air-flues.

Various changes can be made in the form of the various parts which enter into the construction of my new system without departure from my invention.

WVhat I claim is-v 1. The combination with a plurality of rooms, in a building, of an air-box; a plurality of air-flues communicating with the airbox, extending upwardly therefrom, and opening, one into one room and another into an other room; a steam-distributing pipe in the air-box; a return steam-pipe communicating with the steam-distributing pipe; and a plurality of upwardly-extending steam-pipes, each communicating with the steam-distributing pipe; and severally extending upwardly within the air-flue; a plurality of down wardlyextending return steam-pipes communicating severally with said upwardlyextending steam-pipes, and all communicating with said return of the steam-distributing pipe; an airconduit leading to the air-box; the upwardlyextending steam and return pipes being detachabl y connected together and to the steamdistributing pipe and to the return thereof, and withdrawable downwardly out of the airfines; regulating-valves in the upwardly-extending steam-pipes; and means, accessible in each room, for opening and closing the regulating-valves with which the umvardly-extending steam-pipes are provided.

2. The combination with a plurality of rooms in a building of a plurality of upwardlyextending air-flues, each opening into a room, an upright steam-sup pl y pipe and a therewithconnected downwardly-extcnding return-pipe within each flue; a steam-distributing pipe communicating with said upright steam-supply pipes; a stean'i-return main connected with said downwardly extending steam return pipes and an air-chamber communicating with and supplying air to said up wardly-extending air-Hues; the steam-return pipe extending through the air-supply chamber, and thereby preheating the air by the return steam which,

in the return-pipe, is condensed and increases the circulation of the steam through the system.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EUGENE R. KNAPP.

\Vitnesses:

M. E. COVENEY, E. A. ALLEN. 

